Henrico’s Top Teachers – Nancy Niedermayer

Glen Lea E.S., kindergarten

By Tom Lappas, Citizen Editor (Photo by Robert Thomas for the Henrico Citizen)

02/16/12

As a student at VCU, Nancy Niedermayer was assigned to Glen Lea as a student teacher. A decade later, it’s still home. Though she taught second and third grade during her first few years at the school, Niedermayer has been firmly entrenched as a kindergarten teacher in recent years and says she loves it.

“It’s a lifestyle and very different from anything else,” she says. “It’s fast-paced. I find it completely entertaining. You can be having the worst day, and at some point in the day, they’re going to make you laugh or challenge you. It’s very hard to be in a bad mood in kindergarten.”

Glen Lea sits in the shadows of Richmond International Raceway and serves one of the most economically challenged regions of the county. But, one colleague wrote in a nomination letter, “Ms. Niedermayer never uses this as an excuse; instead, it motivates her even more.”

Niedermayer feels a strong connection with her students – even after they’ve left her classroom.

“I’m not just interested in them in kindergarten,” she says. “I’m interested in the all the way through. I just feel like when I go to school every day it makes a difference. I feel like there’s lots that I can offer, and the kids offer just as much back. I need them as much as they need me.”

Many students don’t have the type of basic resources at home that might be taken for granted elsewhere, so Niedermayer takes it upon herself to help out.

She has organized an “angel tree” program through her church (Christ the King Lutheran Church) for several years during the winter holidays, during which church members purchase gifts for students who otherwise might not receive any. She’s also partnered with her church to help provide food to students who might otherwise go without.

“Just this past week, I observed her sending one of her kindergarteners home with a bag of food because she knew he was not getting enough to eat,” a nominator wrote.

To Niedermayer, it’s all just part of the responsibility that comes with being a teacher.

“In one day’s time you can go from being teacher, to mom, to nurse,” she says. “You’re not only an educator – a lot of times the love, the stability that you can provide is just as important.”

Niedermayer created a program at Glen Lea called Character Cinema, which rewards students who consistently display good character with an afternoon trip to the movies as a group.

“It creates excitement, it shows that their good character doesn’t go unnoticed,” she says. “Sometimes we’re in an environment where we pay more attention to the bad behavior than the good.”

Niedermayer also has served as the school’s computer contact, assisting other teachers with technology issues on a daily basis, and as the head of the school’s social committee, helping to celebrate the successes of others. And she organized and compiled a staff cookbook to sell at school events, using the money to buy treats for students during SOL testing.

But despite all she does at the school, Niedermayer’s favorite moments are those that need no explanation: Watching students’ reactions at the moment when a lesson suddenly makes sense. Then, she can’t always hold back her enthusiasm.

“Sometimes I’ll do a little dance and they’ll look at me like I’m crazy, and I say, ‘You’ll get it one day.’”

St. Joseph's Villa’s Flagler Housing & Homeless Services was one of three entities to earn the National Alliance to End Homelessness' Champion of Change Award. The awards were presented Nov. 17 during a ceremony at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

Flagler completed its transition from an on-campus shelter to the community-based model of rapid rehousing in 2013, and it was one of the nation's first rapid re-housing service providers to be certified by NAEH. > Read more.

Richmond International Raceway's 13th annual Community Christmas tree lighting has been rescheduled from Dec. 6 to Monday, Dec. 12, at 6:30 p.m., due to inclement weather expected on the original date.

Entertainment Dec. 12 will be provided by the Laburnum Elementary School choir and the Henrico High School Mighty Marching Warriors band. Tree decorations crafted by students from Laburnum Elementary School and L. Douglas Wilder Middle School will be on display. Hot chocolate and cookies will be supplied by the Henrico High School football boosters. > Read more.

It’s going to be a cold weekend so if you’re headed out to the James River Parade of Lights or the Richmond Road Runners Club Toy Run 5K in Innsbrook, you’d better bundle up! If you’re looking for some indoor ways to celebrate the holidays, check out Three-Penny Theatre’s production of “A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story for Christmas” or “To Drive the Cold Winter Away: An Irish Celebration of the Returning Light” at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church in Glen Allen. Also this weekend – the Henrico Theatre will show the holiday classic “Home Alone." For all our top picks this weekend, click here! > Read more.

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Deep Run Child Development Center, 10907 Three Chopt Rd., will host a Drop & Shop from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Drop your children off for a fun-filled morning while you finish your last-minute holiday shopping. Kids will enjoy crafts, activities, lunch, games and more. For details, call 270-0351 or visit http://www.deepruncdc.org.
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